On 1st July, 104 determined walkers set off by coach from Manchester at 6am on a journey to the Yorkshire Dales to take on the famous 3 Peaks of Yorkshire challenge. 16 hours, 3 mountains, and 24-miles of hiking later they returned victorious!
The 100+ strong team consisted of fundraising groups from We Love MCR's generous partners: Manchester City Council's Leadership Team and colleagues, Softcat, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Manchester Trainee Solicitors Group, tp bennett and MCR Active.
We’re delighted to say that their fundraising efforts have reached £35,000+ as it stands, which makes this our most successful sponsored fundraising event! The funds raised will be used to support our grant programmes for ambitious communities and young people in 2022.
After a thorough briefing by our expert hike guides at the Running Bee Foundation, and a motivational reminder of the importance of this fundraising to We Love MCR by our Ged, the walkers struggled through lashing rain as they took on the first peak, Pen-y-Ghent, at 2,277ft.
The downpour persisted as they undertook the 9-mile slog to Whernside's 2,415ft summit, fueled by a half-way pitstop for refreshments at our checkpoint by the imposing Ribblehead Viaduct.
The walkers made their way to the third peak with dogged determination, and when in touching distance of Ingleborough's 2,372ft summit the clouds parted and sunlight bathed the scene. A glorious way to set the scene for the home stretch back to Horton-in-Ribblesdale.
Everyone who finished the challenge completed it in comfortably under 12 hours - which was the benchmark for the Challenge itself - an incredible effort on a very tough day. Special congratulations go to HPE's Lizzie Bowen and Aidan Brennan who made it in dead on 9 hours!
The sheer number of smiling faces we saw on our trekkers throughout the event, and after it finished, told us just how much everybody got out of the day. Happiness that only increased from participants when they realised there was a pub by our car park...
We can't wait to return with our next endurance challenge for our fantastic Corporate Partners. We don't know where it will be just yet, but we do know it'll be a great opportunity for many more fundraisers to make a difference to Manchester's ambitious communities and young people!
Here at We Love MCR Charity, we pride ourselves on creating bespoke, engaging partnerships with progressive Manchester businesses. If you work for or own such a business and love the idea of supporting our work and being part of events like this, get in touch with Ged Carter at gerard.carter@manchester.gov.uk